1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to treatment of cancer and proliferative disorders, and specifically to retinoic acid derivatives and methods of use thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Agents that can selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells show great promise for therapeutic use. Compounds capable of being highly specific antitumor agents by selectively leading to tumor cell arrest and apoptosis are desirable.
Retinoic acid and certain analogs thereof display cancer preventive activity (Moon et al., Cancer Res. 1979, 39, 1339; Hill et al., Ann. Rev. Nutrition 1992, 12, 161; Mehta et al., Oncology 1991, 48, 1505). However, these compounds exhibit relatively high toxicity and are thus not very useful for cancer treatment and prevention in humans (Biesalski, Toxicology 1989, 57, 117).
Our work is directed to the development various analogues of retinoic acid of lower toxicity which are capable of being specific antitumor agents by selectively leading to tumor cell arrest and apoptosis.